The Difference One Makes
by The Shards of Amarante
Summary: I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing. I see the future, but I swear I will change it.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

**General Warnings:** AU, (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

**Summary: **I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my clansmen vanish off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing.

I see the future, but I swear I will change it.

* * *

**Prologue**

The nomad clan that passed through the Land of Wind every few years was known as one of the most mysterious clans in the Five Great Nations. Their name was unknown. In fact, most nations weren't even sure if it really existed.

They gather in the desert every few years, Sunagakure villagers say. When the moon is full. Though no one's quite sure what they do there.

They have rumors though.

One rumor claims they do some sort of spiritual ceremony there, summoning spirits of the dead.

Another disagrees, and says that all they do is stare at the moon.

One particularly wild-minded gossip monger insists they dance like demons, howl at the moon, and sacrifice one of their members to Tsukuyomi no Mikoto, the moon god.

No one believes her though.

There are a few things certain though, at least amongst Suna shinobi.

One: They definitely exist.

Two: They _do_ show up every few years _- around every three years, _the ones with sharper memories estimate - and they _do_ do something out in the desert, but never venture in or near Suna, so the Kazekage and other shinobi are generally content to leave them alone

Three: They were extremely private, never allowing more than their tents to be seen when they passed by. No one had ever seen any of their members. Once, an _extremely_ lucky shinobi claimed he caught a glimpse of silvery white hair disappearing into a tent before the entire image flickered out (almost like a mirage), but it had only happened to him, so they had no idea if it was true or not. It was the desert after all; who knew what sort of illusions one might see in there?

Four: They _knew_ things. Most shinobi in Suna speculated that it was a kekkei genkai of theirs. They always knew where there would be an unwatched, unused, and isolated piece of desert. They knew when a shinobi was approaching and when it was a lost merchant, or just someone in need of help, and they would _help_. (And, really, that was the only evidence that ever actually confirmed the existence of this mysterious clan: the way lost travellers and injured shinobi would come to Suna, babbling about how they had found directions printed neatly on a sheet of paper and a compass when they were lost, or woken up and found their injuries slathered with some sort of medicine that, to the medic-nin's chagrin, is, besides the pleasant herbal smell, just _gone_ in the time it takes for said shinobi to get to Suna)

And five: They were never, ever caught.

So really, it came as a surprise when horrified rumors swept through Suna that no glimpse of the ever helpful, mysterious clan had been caught when the time rolled around for their three-year ritual.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

The minimum age of participation in the ritual is six.

I am seven when I take part in my first ritual.

_"Seven is a good number,"_ my mother tells me. _"Seven, three and one. Magical and lucky numbers."_

_"There hasn't been a child of seven in the ritual for over a century,"_ my father says. I smile, but really, I think, that children are so rare in our clan now - not that our clan has ever been particularly large in the first place - that my first ritual happening when I am seven is just a coincidence, nothing more. It would be the same as any other ritual that my peers took.

I was wrong.

Our triennial ritual is a simple ritual, really. It serves to heighten our kekkei genkai's range. The members of our clan would sit in a circle under the full moon and meditate. The members who were in their first, third, or seventh ritual would sit in a smaller circle inside the larger.

Our kekkei genkai is...special.

Simply put, it allows us to see the future.

The future isn't set in stone. All members of our clan know this. What we See is just a likely future.

Our kekkei genkai is tied to the moon. On normal night, we can choose to open our inner Eye and See short glimpses of the very near future in our sleep or during meditation - the fuller the moon, the more we can See. (No one is quite sure why, but most speculate it has something to do with the way the moon is often associated with illusions and the future.)

Our ritual - held under a full moon, in the desert, where illusions are common, every three years, a lucky number - allows us to, just for that night, See further into the future. Sometimes, even _years_ into the future, if the person is powerful enough. And when you wake the next morning, you will find that your visions are clearer, or longer, or further in the future. The older one is, the more or better they can See.

A person's first, third, and seventh ritual years are particularly powerful.

Especially, as I find, when your first time is when you are seven.

* * *

This is actually a sort of spin off/rewrite of a story I published on Quotev; a version of how it could have gone if the clan had had this kekkei genkai instead of what I decided on instead. Personally, I think this one is more interesting.

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

**General Warnings:** AU, (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

**Summary: **I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my clansmen vanish off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing.

I see the future, but I swear I will change it.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Yuki! Yu-ki!" I turn my head ever so slightly towards the waving, grinning menace barrelling in my direction.

"_What?_" I ground out. I was at a good part in my book.

"The ritual's coming up!" Ren blurts out excitedly the moment he catches his breath. His enthusiasm is (sadly) not at all dampened by my less-than-happy reply. I raise an eyebrow.

"So?" He pouts. I swear the boy acts even younger than me - and I'm supposed to be the baby of the clan.

"You should be more excited! It's your first ritual! I was bouncing everywhere when I had my first ritual-"

"You _always_ bounce everywhere, Baka-Ren. It's a wonder the repair costs aren't higher than they already are," I deadpan.

"I do not!"

"Do too."

"Do not!" I return to my book, refusing to get caught into the childish "Do not, do too" argument that - the last time we had degenerated into - had continued for_ half an hour_. Ren can be such a stubborn _ass_ sometimes. (I ignore the fact that I had out-stubborned him and won in the end.) He lapses into a petulant silence that I blissfully enjoy, flipping a page.

Ren gives first, after only about ten minutes. I am just mildly disappointed.

"So so so!" He babbles, bouncing as he walks beside me. Clan members smile at us as we pass. This is a rather common sight - his bubbly chattering and my irritated silence. "I heard Tou-san and the elders talking and we're gonna start heading to the Wind country pretty soon! Maybe even today!" I flip a page absently, listening with one ear as he prattles on. There were some perks to having the clan leader's son as your (self-proclaimed) friend. One of them is almost always having inside information first.

We reach our typical lunch spot, Ren chattering amicably about everything and nothing, and me inserting snarky comments every now and then. I open my lunch (onigiri) and Ren, as always, swipes a couple. I let him. I had packed more for him anyway, not that I would ever admit it.

"Umai!" Ren sighs, as he bites in. "I like your onigiri."

"Get your own, asshole," I scowl. He is not at all fazed by my potty mouth. There's a short moment of silence.

"You're seven right now, right?" I blink at this non sequitur.

"Duh. Did you forget how old I am, Baka-Ren?" He scowls, cheeks red.

"No! It's just that," He leans in. "I heard Tou-san and Osamu-sama talking about you-" I am instantly suspicious. The clan leader and a clan elder talking about _me_?

"Did they mention me by name?" I interrupt, raising an eyebrow. he splutters.

"Well- no- but-"

"Then how do you know they were talking about me?"

"There's only so many girls in the inner circle this year-"

"There's Kimiko." I couldn't help but turn my nose up ever so slightly at the mention of her name. Unfortunately, Ren noticed and grinned.

"Maa maa, don't be like that. She can be..." He trails off, unable to think of anything that could paint her in an acceptable light. "Nice." He finishes lamely. I snort.

Kimiko and I...didn't quite get along, despite her being the closest to my age. She was giggly, fussy, vapid, and basically, downright irritating. I would even grudgingly admit that Ren was better than Kimiko in terms of people-I-would-rather-spend-time-with. At least Ren was useful (sometimes) and could make decent conversation (if incessant, mostly one-sided chattering counts as conversation).

Kimiko was just...

"Miyuki-chan!"

Speak of the devil and he (or she, in this case) will appear. I stifle a groan. Beside me, Ren plasters on a fake smile as the small, white-haired girl skips up to us, her pink, frilled dress bouncing in a rather annoying fashion. (Who in their right mind wears pink, frilled dresses as their casual clothing? _Bright_ pink to boot.)

"Ah, Ren-chan, ohayo!"

"Ohayo, Kimiko," Ren greets her with a nod and (painful) smile. She frowns down at us, hands on her hips.

"You shouldn't sit on the ground like that, Miyuki-chan, it's unladylike! And look at the _awful_ state of your clothes-"

I sigh (mentally). One of the more unbearable parts of Kimiko (more unbearable than normal anyway) is the way she typically alternates between treating people as babies and expecting them to be perfect (eg: like her). And, as I am the only clan member actually younger than her (physically at least; I am leagues ahead of her mentally), I am a constant victim.

"-are you listening to me, Miyuki-chan?" I nod obediently. She huffs, looking at me expectantly.

"You didn't listen at all did you? I said not to sit on the floor!" The _most_ irritating part of Kimiko, is, of course, the way she expects everyone to obey her. I wonder briefly if her parents knew this when they named her.

I am brought back to earth by Kimiko stomping her foot.

"Miyuki-chan!" I sigh softly.

"Listening does not always mean obeying, Kimiko. As much as I appreciate your concerns, there are, sadly, no dining tables within vicinity."

Ren doesn't quite manage to hide his snort. I make a mental note to drill him mercilessly in the art of keeping a straight face later.

"You shouldn't eat outside then!" Kimiko shrieks, her face flushing. I wince internally as she opens her mouth to unleash another long diatribe. Luckily, we are interrupted.

"Oi, 'Miko!" Kimiko's mouth snaps shut, and she turns, blushing.

"A- Aki-kun!" Akihiko stops in front of us, huffing in extertation.

"Hey Ren, Miyuki," he greets us before turning to Kimiko. "What are you doing, 'Miko? Your sister's been looking all over for you. Something about needing to pack all your clothes."

"Are we moving again?" Ren blurts. Akihiko nods.

"Yeah, you guys should get back soon. I think your parents' are looking for you guys too. C'mon 'Miko, Hiro-nee looked really pissed the last time I saw her!" I quickly scarf down whatever's left of my onigiri as Akihiko leaves with Kimiko hot on his heels, and turn to Ren.

"Hurry up, Baka-Ren." Ren nearly chokes as he attempts to inhale his food under my frigid stare. I snicker inwardly.

"I'm done! Let's go, Yuki!" Ren jumps up and grabs my arm, yanking me along as he scampers back to our camp.

"Baka-Ren, if you don't let go of my arm, I'll make sure you have no more use for that hand ever again." He let go, bounding ahead with an enthusiastic laugh.

"Come on, Yuki, you slowpoke! I bet even snails can crawl faster than you!"

I growl, but let my lips quirk up ever so slightly as I catch up to the idiot and bop him over the head.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

Our packing is done quickly and efficiently - we _are_ a nomad clan after all; moving quickly and on short notices is practically second nature to us - and our clan is on its way to the Wind country only a few hours after being informed of our move.

That did not, however, mean that we were all travelling peacefully and quietly.

"Hide!" Shou squeals as he rushes past me.

"Take-nii's on the warpath!" Ryou exclaims as he scrambles under our wagon after Shou.

"Yuki, help!" Ren had evidently been caught up with Ryou and Shou's antics. Again, I may add. I sigh, innerly amused.

"What have you idiots done this time?"

"Nothing!" Ren yelps.

"Shh, he's coming!" Shou hushes, peering out. Ren eeps and dives under to join them.

"Don't give us away!" Ryou pleads. My lips twitch.

"No promises." The three give me horrified, wounded-puppy looks. I raise my book to hide my smirk.

"Yuki!" They dive back under the supposed safety of the wagon as Take-nii thunders past the line of wagons and people towards us.

"Take-nii," I greet him.

Takeshi, at the age of seventeen, is the eldest of our generation. Moderately tall and muscled, with our clan's typical white hair, and ice blue eyes, he can make a pretty intimidating image. It wasn't hard to see why he was one of the prime candidates for the next clan head. Luckily (for Shouta and Ryousuke, our twins-in-all-but-biological-parents pranksters) he is also quite easygoing and has a great sense of humor.

"Did Ryou, Shou, and Ren come by?"

"Yes." I can sense Ren's horror, even from here. "What did they do this time?" Take-nii looks torn between amusement and irritation. Whatever they did must not have been too bad.

"They stole Kaa-san's cookies and left a jack-in-the-box holding a note saying 'IOU a thank you for 12 cookies' in its place." I blink. When had they decided on a jack-in-the-box as their calling card? I vaguely remembered that the last time they had pulled a prank, they had just signed their names.

"That sounds...rather tame for them."

"They also proceeded to clean our pantry of anything remotely interesting. Including our dinner. That's why I'm chasing them." He informed me. I snort.

"Ryou and Shou, food thieves extraordinaire," I catch a muffled, indignant protest from under the wagon. Luckily, Take-nii doesn't seem to hear.

"So, where did they go?" Debating over the issue briefly, I decide to take pity on them.

"Dunno. I was reading." I wave the book in my hand in his face. "And you're interrupting. Go away." He eyes me doubtfully. I was rather good at paying attention to my surroundings, even when I didn't look it, and everyone in the clan knew it.

"Really?" He voices skeptically. A weaker person would have caved under his piercing gaze. I, on the other hand, prided myself in having the best poker face and acting skills in the clan. I sigh, as if giving up.

"They went somewhere that way," I wave somewhere behind me negligently. It isn't completely a lie. The wagon they are hiding under _is_ behind me after all. Take-nii grins.

"Thanks!" He tosses over his shoulder as he bounds off in the direction I indicated.

I wait a few minutes after his footsteps fade out of earshot before deciding it is safe.

"You idiots can come out now." Ren is the first to scramble out.

"Yuu-ki!" he cries, throwing himself at me. "My saviour! Thaaank yoouu!" I fend off his glomps with an air of practiced ease.

"I didn't do it for you, I did it for the cookies." I tell him bluntly. My eyes shift to Ryou and Shou. "Hand some over."

"So meeaan," Ren whines. Shou snickers as Ryou passes me three cookies. Kaa-san shakes her head at us in fond exasperation as we crawl into the wagon to enjoy our goods.

"Ami-obaachan's cookies are the best!" Ren says happily, spraying crumbs everywhere.

"Shut up, Baka-Ren," I say, swiping the last of his cookies. "You're gonna clean that up."

"Hey!" He wails. "My cookie!" I crawl out of the small space to the wagon seat and lean back, ignoring him. I hear Shou laughing as Ryou tries - and fails - to distract Ren from the loss of his cookie.

The wind swirls past, warm and dry.

I stare up at the clear blue sky above, Ren's grumbles, Ryou's helpless snickers, and Shou's raucous laughter behind me, and wish this kind of peace would last forever.

The wind picks up, a touch of sand behind it, but promises nothing.

* * *

**Please review!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

**General Warnings:** AU, (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

**Summary: **I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my clansmen vanish off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing.

I see the future, but I swear I will change it.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"We're here!"

I crack open one eye, lifting my book off my face slightly. I see Ren racing in my direction.

"Yuki, we're here!" He exclaims again. I yawn.

"I realized." I say dryly, sitting up and stretching. It is almost dusk. The sky is a beautiful purple, streaks of red and orange still on the horizon, lighting the sand beneath our feet a tawny, golden brown.

"Tomorrow's the ritual night!"

"I know," I say patiently, well aware that Ren is nervous (for some reason - it wasn't like this was his first time) and needed to get everything out of his system, and I was just the unlucky person he had decided to unload on.

"I completely forgot to tell you what I overheard Tou-san and Osamu-sama talking about!" He chatters nervously. I sigh patiently, still quite sure they had not been talking about me. But I humor him.

"You can just tell me now then." He nods furiously.

"Theysaidyoumighthavereallystrongvisionscuzyou-"

"Ren." I interrupt. "Calm down. Breathe." He took a deep breath. "Right. Now, repeat. Slower this time."

"They said that you might have really strong visions cuz you're seven years old and this is your first ritual." He repeats, bouncing anxiously. "Apparently, the last recorded time there was a kid who had their first ceremony when they were seven years old, the kid..." He stops here and gulps. I raise an eyebrow.

"The kid...?" I prompt. His voice lowers to a whisper.

"The kid died," Ren looks at me. "He couldn't stand the strain of all the visions he saw. That's why there hasn't been a seven year old in the ritual for over a century." I still. Ren gulps again, looking like he wants to cry. 'I don't want you to die, Yuki."

"Don't be stupid, Baka-Ren," I say harshly. "I'm not gonna die."

"But-"

"I'm not gonna die of something as stupid as being unable to handle my own kekkei genkai." I interrupt firmly. "If there's anything I'm probably gonna die of anytime soon, it'll be from you annoying me to death!" Ren looks mortally offended.

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" But he smiles, a tinge of relief entering his expression. _Thank you._

"You are. Don't deny it." I punch him in the arm, lightly. _Don't mention it._

"C'mon then, let's go find the others. I heard Hiro-nee made cake to celebrate you and Kimiko's first ritual!" I wrinkle my nose.

"I don't like cake." Ren huffs.

"Don't be such a spoilsport. Come on!" And he yanks me along, regardless of my threats and protests.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

I take a deep breath as I sit down within the circle for the first time. I peer towards the outer circle and Ren grins back at me nervously as he settles down between his parents. He is beginning to look tense again. Arashi, his father, the clan leader, lays a hand on his knee, to comfort him, stopping the tremors. His mother, Marii, looks as serene as always, as she smiles soothingly at me. My own parents are beginning to look a touch teary and anxious, which didn't help at all. I begin to feel jittery. I can't help but think of what might happen. _What if I_ do_ di-_

I cut myself off. Being pessimistic was well and good, especially for anticipating worst-case scenarios but if I kept this up, I wouldn't be able to focus and keep myself together.

I am brought out of my musings by the raspy voice of our most venerable and ancient (at the ridiculously old age of a hundred and two) clan elder, Osamu-sama.

"Let us begin." Osamu-sama intones.

The moon appears from beneath the clouds, bathing the circle in an eerie silvery gray. And my inner Eye flies open, and I am dragged in.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

As I land in the depths of the inky darkness of my Eye, I fall into a horror story.

_A pale eyed girl saving a blond boy from six orange haired invaders, standing in the smoking crater of a once-mighty village. The pitiful cries of the injured and dying echo behind them._

_The blond boy and a pink haired girl with their silver haired sensei battling a orange-masked man, the masked man disappearing into another dimension, reappearing when they least expected it, a kunai plunged into the sensei's back._

_Five people - a red haired boy, a deceptively young, blonde lady, a short grampa, a muscled, dark-skinned man, an auburn haired woman - facing two men with eyes filled with swirling scarlet hatred and falling to their tainted strength._

_The blond boy flickering here and there, saving his friends from an overwhelming army, but still too late to help the pale eyed kunoichi, her soundless lips mouthing "I love you." He cries out wordlessly in grief, red chakra exploding around him, and he loses control, a demon taking his place._

_A ten-tailed monster rampaging across the remains of a village, five faces carved on a cliff gone with a swish of its tail, an enormous murky ball of chakra shooting from it's mouth, annihilating a village of sand on the other side of the continent, civilians screaming, children crying, shinobi of all ages and rank desperately, hopelessly trying to stop it._

The scene sharpens and it is no longer just an image. I smell the bitter, coppery tang of blood permeating the air, hear the screams and sobs of the injured and dying, the futile pleading of mothers clutching their children before they are brutally slaughtered by a relentless, white-cloned army.

The sky darkens and the sun disappears. The moon bleeds a sickening crimson and the stars twinkle out, one by one. I see men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watch the blonde boy fall, my clansmen all but _vanish_ off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I feel the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and I want to scream, to run, and do _something_ but my body won't _move_ because_ I'm not really there..._

And the scene changes.

When my Eye focuses again, we are no longer in a horror story. In fact, I can tell, we are years before the events of the previous visions. Perhaps even in the present time.

It's still not pretty though.

There's the blond haired boy again, much much younger, being chased by an angry mob, but while his escape routes are good and plentiful, his luck runs out eventually.

_"Demon."_

_"Monster."_

_"Doesn't deserve to live..."_

There's the pale eyed girl that died in his arms, standing meekly in her home, beaten by her family in so many ways, looked upon with cold, disdainful eyes.

_"Weak."_

_"Useless."_

_"Not fit to be the heir..."_

The scene shifts.

_The girl, enrolled into the Academy in hopes that she would die - shinobi do not have high survival rates after all._

_The boy, in the same Academy, but too early, failing test after test, passing on his last chance - ironically, with the group he was supposed to be passing with had he been entered at the correct age._

_The boy is assigned to a team with a dark haired boy whose eyes lurk with unadulterated hatred, and pink haired_ (that can't be a good color for a ninja)_ girl whose heart is full of cruel, childish innocence. Neither appreciate his talents and put him down at every chance._

_The girl fares better. A boisterous, but caring, brown haired boy with a white dog, and a quiet, but protective, black haired boy with bugs. Both appreciate her, but never bring the true potential I can sense, even in a vision, bubbling inside her._

_The dark haired boy leaves the village _(the traitorous asshole_) and, of course, blond boy goes after him_ (the admirably loyal idiot)_ and is nearly killed by the very person he wishes to save and when he gets back, the pink haired girl doesn't say anything, but cries_ (Stop crying girl, get stronger so you can get him back)_._

And everything goes dark again, and I wake up with just one name - the place I know I will start.

_Konoha._

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

Our Sight is not what makes our clan special. Or rather, not just that anyway.

What makes our clan special is the fact that we cannot see ourselves in our visions - or, more accurately, we have never seen ourselves in a vision.

_"What does this mean?" I ask._

Our clan is very isolated for a reason. We know what will come and, short of the apocalypse, we cannot interfere because we have do not know whether our involvement will make the situation even worse or not.

(After all, nothing can tip the scales of Balance like someone who knows the future.)

But if that was not the apocalypse, then I'm not sure what is.

_"It means we can change the future."_

* * *

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

**General Warnings:** AU, (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

**Summary:** I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my clansmen vanish off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing.

I see the future, but I swear I will change it.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I've decided I'm going to go for longer chapters instead of shorter updates, I hope no one minds. And I apologize if this chapter's a bit boring - but the next chapter's already half typed and has my first fight scenes in it, so look forward to it!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

"Yuki!? Yuki!?" I blink up at the person hovering above me.

"Ren?" I mumble blearily, attempting to sit up. I feel slightly nauseous.

"Yuki!" The figure I can now identify as Ren throws himself at me, burying his face in my midsection. I rub my eyes to clear them, trying to shoo away the sick feeling.

"I thought you weren't going to wake up!" He wails. "I- I thought-" I bop his head reassuringly.

"I told you I wouldn't die, didn't I?" I can feel tears soaking through my shirt.

"But you didn't wake up!" He sobs, his voice muffled and hitching with his hiccups. My eyebrows furrow together.

"What do you mean, I didn't wake up? How long was I asleep?"

"A few days." My mother looks tired, her face pale and drawn. "Three to be exact."

"It sure felt longer than that." Ren looks up, his eyes red and puffy.

"What did you see?" He asks, hiccups subsiding. I think back to the visions, all the _bloodscreaminganguishdeath_ and feel the bile rise up in my throat once again.

"Hell," I whisper. "I saw hell."

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

It is almost two days before I am able to tell anyone of my visions. Two days of restless sleep and dreams of blood and gore that I am not sure if is a nightmare or a vision and a growing urge, _need,_ to tell someone of what I Saw. But I patiently put up with my mother's fussing and refusal to let me leave the bed before she is sure I am absolutely all right anyway.

When she hears of what I have to say though, in the safety of Ren's home, with my father, Ren's parents, Osamu-sama, and Ren present, she looks as if she had kept me in bed just a bit longer.

"Are you certain?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure it wasn't just a dream?" My father suggests hopefully. I give him a withering look - everyone in the clan knows our dreams are hardly ever _just dreams_ unless it was a new moon, and _never_ during a full moon, much less a _ritual_ moon.

"Unfortunately, she is correct." Osamu-sama sighs. "I had a similar vision, though not quite as...detailed." He fixes me with his blind, milky gaze. "I am surprised one as young as you could see such a thing, even in your first ritual. We can expect great things from you, young one." I dip my head in acknowledgment.

"But- but- what do we do then?" Ren looks terrified. All five of us look towards Arashi.

"You tell the rest of the clan of course," Arashi says. "Just some of it, enough to make them aware of the situation, but not enough to make them riot. Just tell them about the Juubi's release and that will most likely be enough. Most are already uneasy from the small glimpses some have caught. And Osamu and I will consult the other elders." And he strides out to call the meeting, as confident as always. Osamu-sama walks sedately after him, not in the least worried.

It is somewhat comforting to know that there are some people that still won't panic, even in the face of a potential apocalypse.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

An hour after we inform the rest of the clan, we are back at Ren's home. The rest of the clan are still gossiping and worrying, a thick blanket of tension weighing the air as Arashi and the elders confer in the privacy of the elders' tent. I am sitting on the entrance-step of Ren's caravan, reading, as usual. Ren is tending to his family's horses.

"Psst, Yuki, Ren!"

"No," I tell them bluntly, not looking up from my book. I am not particularly keen on getting dragged into one of their harebrained schemes and the best way to do that is to cut them off from the beginning. But Ren - ever foolish - stops brushing the horse and decides to ask.

"Ryou? Shou? What're you guys doing?" They perk up, grinning mischievously.

"We're gonna go spy on the elder's meeting!"

"You wanna come?"

"Why?" They huff.

"It's not fair that we don't get to decide what we're gonna do when we're the ones that are gonna have to do stuff-"

"-cuz there's no way those wrinkly old geezers-"

"-to be fair though, Chie-sama isn't really that old-"

"-are gonna get off their fat asses to actually do the dirty work."

"-but anyway, at least we can listen, right?"

"I think Take-nii is participating, so he'll fill us in anyway," Ren interjects, long since used to deciphering Ryou and Shou's overlapping language. I glance at him suspiciously over my book. I didn't know that. When had he heard that? We had been together since I told his parents of my vision.

"Yeah-" Ryou protests.

"But still-" Shou argues.

"Aren't you curious?" They chorus together.

"No." I say bluntly. They swivel towards me in simultaneous horror.

"Yuki!"

"You-"

"Are you sure you're related to us?"

"Where's your sense of adventure?"

"It went on an adventure. Without me." They gasp and quickly backpedal, grabbing Ren by either arm.

"C'mon, Ren, we can't let her boringness infect you!"

"Wha- wait!" Ren yelps, dropping the curry comb as they tow him away. "Yuki, heeelllppp!"

I flip a page, ignoring him. My eyes scan over the words, but I don't really take them in. Despite what I said to Ryou and Shou, I _am_ curious. They are deciding on the fate of the world after all. But then again...how are Ryou and Shou planning to get around the silencing seals? It isn't like they can rip them off - our silencing seals are sewn directly into our tent fabric - or overload them - the elders would definitely notice that. And as it is the elders' meeting tent, the seals will, no doubt be much stronger than the average seals.

Our clan, while not a shinobi clan, still practices some shinobi arts. It is a necessity. We live in a shinobi world after all, and all travellers need to have some form of protection.

Our clan specializes in the art of sealing. It is an extremely handy thing for our isolated clan - we can store many many things in storage seals, like food, shelter, furniture... (Though, of course, we can't seal away everything - like water. It's too risky to seal away all of our water. Seals are easily damaged, and if we lost our entire supply of water in the desert, we would be screwed. Besides, unsealing an entire barrel of water every time your canteen ran out was annoying.) And our seals also offer us different forms of protection - like invisibility. After all, bandits can't attack you if they can't see you right?

Of course, despite that, not everyone in the clan is good at fuuinjutsu.

Take-nii, for example, sucked, plain and simple. Everyone had agreed after his seventeenth explosion from the most basic of seals, that he should just stick to kenjutsu, a secondary art that some of our clan practiced. (We had discovered, however, that Take-nii was _very_ good at overloading seals. "A handy ability," Asami-sensei had commented. "He'll never have to worry about being trapped in a seal.")

Like Take-nii, Shou prefers kenjutsu. This isn't because he blows up all of his seals though - no, Shou is just horrible at memorizing fuuinjutsu elements. He can still use the rudimentary seals, for storing or summoning things. It was a pity, according to Asami-sensei, because Shou had a brilliant imagination, and could have made a magnificent fuuinjutsu master.

Kimiko on the other hand, would be considered above average with seals had she not been born to our clan. She is able to use and draw any seal after being taught a few times, but unable to work with those that actually needed some understanding of the seal, or original creation. As it is, she is somewhat below average by our clan standards.

Ren is just average in our clan. He is able to draw seals, though he occasionally forgets to place the anchors and it blows up in his face. (It is quite funny to watch, if only because he only dares play around with the basics so the explosions never truly damage anyone.) Like Kimiko, he can use almost any seal after being taught a few time. However, unlike Kimiko, who cannot create her own seals at all, Ren is able to work with the most basic of elements to create new seals, though it usually takes him days.

Hiro-nee is a bit better, actually able to create her own simple seals in a few hours, making her just slightly above average. She has a bit of trouble with the actual drawing though - she doesn't have the delicate touch needed to draw elegant seals, with the tiny, beautifully crafted characters and designs. Her mother always sighs that she should have been born a boy, as she excels at hard and messy work, but fails in the feminine arts.

Ryou though, is a genius at fuuinjutsu. But unfortunately, he has very little desire to really work at it. With the right motivation though, he can do almost anything. I had seen him pull out some truly creative seals on some of his and Shou's pranks (though how many of the ideas were Shou's we aren't quite sure). Most adults are still wondering how they stuck all the furniture onto the ceiling (the _canvas_ ceiling, which, even with the typical strengthening seals on the fabric, is quite a feat), soaking wet and dripping all over the floor.

Aki, unlike Ryou, has plenty of motivation. He is a natural hard worker, throwing himself into anything and everything with a single-minded focus. The only problem Aki has when it came to seals is his own lack of imagination. He is a very practical, focused, and down to earth sort of person. He doesn't quite have the necessary imagination to create truly ingenious seals like Ryou.

As for myself? Well, my imagination, though not as vivid, or eccentric as Shou's, is bright enough for any potential fuuinjutsu master. And it helps that I love to read just as much as I love drawing seals, devouring book after book, scroll after scroll on fuuinjutsu. The only problem I have is my age. Everyone, even Kimiko, had had more time than me to learn - something I had to work hard to remedy.

I had never tried to break through silencing seals though - I had no desire to listen to my parents after bedtime, lest I hear them doing something I would rather not hear - but even still, I would be hard-pressed to come up with something off the top of my head in such limited time, at my current skill level.

So I am very curious to see what Ryou, a sealing prodigy with much more experience than I, can do in such a short amount of time.

Standing, I pick up the comb and put it away.

"Ren'll brush you later, 'lay?" I inform the somewhat disgruntled horse, patting it on its head. It settles down slightly, and I rush back to my tent to grab a few of my own pre-made seals. Prodigy Ryou may be, even he forgets about some crucial things when focused on one particular problem - things like who might walk in on their little spyfest. And while some people can draw seals anywhere, and pretty quickly to boot, I am not quite up to that level yet. I am forced to rely on pre-made seals most of the time.

Surprisingly, no one is around when I arrive at the elders' tent. They must have caused a distraction of some sort. Still, I take no chances, activating a few of the seals I brought to ward away any curious eyes with a trickle of chakra. I spy Ren, Ryou, and Shou crouching behind the water barrels outside the tent and make my way towards them.

"Move." Ren shifts aside to make room, revealing a small piece of paper with a swirly design inked on stuck to the tent wall. I crouch and activate another small paper seal Ryou quickly draws up for me and press my ear as close as I dare to the soft fabric, like they're doing. My eyes widen as I hear the voice of Arashi calming the yelling elders. Ryou has somehow created a seal to bypass the seals around the meeting tent in the ten or so minutes I used to run back to my tent.

"How did y-"

"I'll show you later," Ryou hushes, grinning proudly. I give him a look that tells him I will hold him to it and pull more of my seals out of my pocket. Ryou's eyes light up.

"Oh! Yuki, you're a genius!" He whispers. "These are the invisibility seals we usually surround our camp with aren't they?"

"I already put up the avoidance seals," I tell him. I had been studying the seals we always put up around our camp as of late and decided to create a smaller version of it. The only problem the invisibility seals had was how unsuitable they were to hide specific objects. The seals connected in a straight line from seal one to seal two to seal three and so forth, creating a specific shape of whatever you design. Anything, even a single toes, outside of the seals would not be invisible. And while that was alright if you were just hiding a specific portion of land, it wasn't quite as good when you were trying to hide a person that could talk and move. But neither Ryou nor I had the time to fix this problem because-

"They're starting!" Shou hisses. We scramble to finish up our seals and scurry back. I press my ear against the tent again.

"-shouldn't... -at sort of impact our interference will cause? What if...makes it worse? How do we know ... -ill not cause the destruction to come sooner?" From inside the tent comes the nasally voice of Manabu-sama, one of the seven elders. Ryou frowns, muttering something about needing to work on enhancing the quality. Shou kicks him to shut him up. He scowls and pulls another slip of paper and a marker from the storage seal on his wrist.

"We have not interefered with anything as major as this in almost three centuries. Do you remember our clan stories? Why we withdrew from the world in the first place? Our presence began the Warring States Period!" Leiko-sama agrees. Leiko-sama seems to be sitting closer to our position because we can hear her scratchy voice perfectly. Shou pulls back from the wall slightly.

"Are they seriously considering just _leaving_ the world to their fate?" He hisses, outraged. Ryou shushes him, his brow scrunched up in distress, his ear pressed to the fabric and eyes stuck on the developing seal in his hand. I squint at it, deciphering the various components with practiced ease.

"Maybe it needs another wind anchor," I offer quietly. "To enhance the amount of waves picked up by the seal." He nods and I press back to the seal, straining to catch the soft words of Yasuo-sama, the current speaker.

"-also gave birth to peace... -nohagakure wa- "

"Got it!" I quickly copy the necessary adjustments onto my slip of paper and press back.

-ther villages." Ryou grins in triumph as the sounds filter more clearly through.

"And how long did that peace last?" Leiko-sama sneers. "A measly twenty years before fighting broke out again."

"It was a start. There had been no peace at all before, not since Ōtsutsuki Kaguya-hime." I can practically sense Chie-sama scowling at Leiko-sama. The two are always at odds with each other because Leiko-sama does not acknowledge Chie-sama, the youngest (at the age of thirty eight) elder, as an elder at all. Luckily though, despite Leiko-sama's views, the tradition for choosing our elders is still based on merit, not age. Chie-sama continues hotly. "Besides, our clan must have been given this gift for a reason! If not to save the world, then what else? But you sit here, arguing to leave the world to its doom-"

"Enough." Osamu-sama says sternly before the argument can escalate further. "We only have one question we need to resolve right now. Do we _not_ interfere, and allow the world to go to its _definite_ doom, or do we interfere and have the world come to a _possible_ doom?" There is a short silence.

"Definitely doomed or possibly doomed...When you put it that way, we do not have much choice, do we?" Junko-sama sighs softly. There is a soft round of acquiescing murmurs, and a soft "Tch!" from Leiko-sama. The four of us trade relieved grins. None of us would have been able to sit back and do nothing had they really decided to do nothing.

"There is still the problem of who to send and what we should interfere with," The feeble voice of Daichi-sama says. The elders fall quiet at his voice. Daichi-sama does not talk often, but when he does, he is heard. "Most hidden villages are still mistrustful since the previous Great War and an entire new clan is very suspicious. Not to mention our skillset would be bring great risk. Uzushiogakure was destroyed for its fuuinjutsu skills alone, and many humans would fear what we can See. Many villages would not accept us solely because taking us in would require risking the jealousy and wrath of the other nations." There is a round of agreements.

"So going as a clan is out then. That leaves small groups, most likely for long term infiltration, possibly even for their entire lives." Arashi says a tad grimly. There is another long silence at this somber announcement. I understand why. The only way we will most likely be able to change anything will be to join the villages' shinobi forces and leaving a shinobi force is typically impossible unless one is retiring or dead. We would be losing quite a few members of our clan for this venture.

"You realize," Yasuo-sama coughs. "You realize that we will be losing our entire current younger generation for this venture?" There is a large uproar at his words and the four of us pull back to save our ears. I glance at the others. Shou looks thrilled and eager. Ryou looks torn between excitement and apprehension. Ren is pale and nervous. I myself feel a mix of all of those, but keep my face blankly calm as Ren looks to me for reassurance. We press back to the tent as the noise dies down.

"Yasuo. Explain." Arashi does not sound too happy.

"The children will be the only ones who can join the shinobi forces without too much trouble." Yasuo-sama points out patiently. "Can you imagine how a kage would react to someone _my_ age wanting to join their shinobi forces?" I can see the absurdity of the thought. While Yasuo-sama is quite young for an elder - only forty four years old - a shinobi at his age is usually dead weight, retired, really lucky, or just dead, plain and simple. A person _starting_ as a shinobi at his age was just plain ridiculous. There are some grumbles of agreement.

"There are some adults that will be able to go, but we have a very limited number of people in our clan to begin with, and even fewer that can qualify to change the future." Yasuo-sama continues calmly. "We have probably six people above the age of eighteen, but below the age of thirty that can go." There is a pause.

"I thought it was ten?" Chie-sama interrupts.

"Fukuyo and Aika are with child and Hyouta and Keiji will not leave them. Expectant women should not join the shinobi forces, and even after they give birth, they will not be able to leave their children. And even if we do count them, without the children, we will still have too little people."

"Wait, which villages will we need to infiltrate?" Chie-sama asks. "There are only five main villages." Osamu-sama is the one to reply.

"The villages that play a vital role in the future war are the five great villages, as well as the samurai in the land of Iron. However Amegakure and Otogakure also play a role in the events leading up to the war." The tent falls silent.

"That's seven villages we need to infiltrate, plus the Land of Iron." Chie-sama says finally. "And the only possible candidates we can send must be under the age of thirty."

"That's fourteen viable candidates, excluding the unborn children, their mothers and fathers."

"There are some where we cannot afford to send only one person," Arashi says. "Otogakure, for one. People who infiltrate that one are liable to die. If one dies in there, we should have another one still in there providing us information. Amegakure as well." I hear them nod.

"I believe," Daichi-sama begins. "That it would be safer and more practical to send one or both of the expectant couples to the Land of Iron. The samurai are honorable and will not attack a pregnant woman nor her child, and a couple will not attract as much attention as a lone man or a single mother. Hyouta and Keiji are both proficient with the sword and can still join the samurai forces." There is a round of agreement.

"So that leaves seven villages and fourteen people. Two per village?"

"Yes, I suppose," Arashi sighs, resigned to the idea of the children leaving. "But none of the children will be taking the more dangerous villages. Amegakure, Otogakure, and Kirigakure will be for the adults." The elders agree.

"Kirigakure is a death sentence for kekkei genkai users though," Junko-sama says, worried. "Even though our kekkei genkai is easily hidden, the coup that overthrows the kekkei genkai hunts will be quite a few years from now. Whoever we send will have to be very careful."

"Yes," Arashi admits. "I was thinking Emi-san and Hotaka-san. They work well together and are extremely cautious." Osamu-sama hums.

"Those two are probably the best. And I would suggest Katashi and Noboru for Oto, leaving Minoru and Momoe for Ame." The other elders agee.

"The other villages are all fairly safe. Konoha will be the safest." Manabu-sama tries. I hold my breath at this one. Konoha. This is the one my vision told me about. "Why don't we send the two youngest?" My stomach drops and I very nearly blanch. No, not with _Kimiko_ of all people-

"With all due respect, sir, I don't think that's a good idea." Take-nii speaks up for the first time. So he_ is_ there after all. I release a short sigh of relief at having my doom delayed and glance over at Ren. Where _had_ he gotten the information?

"What do you mean, boy?" Leiko-sama asks condescendingly. "It is natural that we send the two youngest to the most peaceful village." Take-nii chuckles, unfazed by the glare she is no doubt giving him.

"Well, Kimiko and Yuki don't get along that well." _That's putting it mildly._ "That would jeopardize the mission. Yuki can probably be professional enough to complete the mission, but Kimiko needs someone that can control her. Yuki can't do that because she's younger than Kimiko and Kimiko doesn't respect her enough to listen." I make a mental note to thank Take-nii later for getting me out of what would have no doubt been a disastrous partnership.

"Then-"

"What do you propose we do then?" Chie-sama asks, curious, cutting off whatever scathing reply Leiko-sama was about to give. I sense Take-nii plastering on his typical smile and feel Leiko-sama turning purple from annoyance and rage. I snicker mentally.

"I think you should let them decide their partners and villages."

"What?" Manabu-sama says in disbelief.

"I think you should-"

"Yes, we heard you the first time," he interrupts. "But why would we let a bunch of inexperienced _children_ decide on something as important as this?"

"You're sending out _children_ to do this," He points out, his tone just a bit sharper than normal, but still smiling. I feel Manabu-sama's flinch. Take-nii is _scary_ when he's angry. "So they should be the ones to decide on their future home and companion too."

"But- but-" Manabu-sama splutters.

"You have a reason for saying that, don't you?" Arashi observes.

"Mm," I sense his nod and widening grin. "I think most of us already know where we need to go." I glance over to the other three.

Most of us kids are pretty close, to the point where some of the more observant of us can just know what the others are thinking. Even Kimiko can practically predict Aki, her best friend's mood and thoughts from the subtle twitches in his body language. Take-nii, our overall big brother, is the most perceptive; almost to the point where it is scary. (Of course, he had helped raise most of us at one point or another so that probably gave him an advantage.)

"We'll take your word for it then."

Ryou and Shou scramble up and begin collecting the seal slips, and Ren and I are quick to follow. Don't doubt the instincts of professionals and all that. We just make it behind another tent as the elders' tent flap lifts and Arashi steps out, blinking at the darkening sky. We keep running until Shou stops at Ren's home and we all crawl in. Marii isn't there, probably out comforting the still-hysterical clansmen.

"So," Shou whispers after we settle in, leaning forward. His blue-gray eyes glitter in excitement. "What do you think?" Ren and I glance at each other.

"I'm nervous," I say bluntly. Shou looks almost comically surprised, but Ryou looks like he agrees. I continue before Shou can get cardiac arrest from my evident lack of enthusiasm. "I've never met anyone outside of the clan. Plus, you heard them. We're going to be going in pairs. Our clan is too small as it is, so they will be sending as few people as possible. That means no parents, because most of our parents are still within childbearing age, but too old to join the shinobi forces. They're going to be needed to boost our clan numbers. So we're on our own. No money, no food, no shelter. I'm seven. I can't take any missions yet, I'll still be in the Academy. Ren is still a kid too, so he can't support me. And how will we attend our rituals?"

Shou looks largely unaffected by most - he had been taking care of himself for a while now, with some help from Ryou's family, as his parents had died of an influenza a few years back that had cut down our clan numbers by quite a margin - but the last one had him frowning for a brief second.

"I guess we'll need to do it on our own, or sneak out then." He says, shrugging it off, unconcerned. "It's not like being in the desert is a requirement; it's just tradition. All you really need is moonlight."

"I'm not going to be around when Kaa-san gives birth though," Ryou says quietly. Shou shuts up. He, more than anyone else, has been aware of how excited Ryou has been to finally have a sibling. Ryou's mother is around six months pregnant, but, as she is thirty four, she will not be going anywhere. Ryou is probably never going to be able to come back. He will not be able to see his little brother or sister grow up. Just like me. I am fairly certain my parents have been considering another child lately. I will not be able to see if their plans will come into fruition.

"Anyways, where are you guys going? I know Ryou and I are going to Kumo!" Shou say in an effort to distract us from our gloomy thoughts. It works. Ryou blinks at him.

"We are?" Shou nods happily.

"Don't worry, we'll get along with that rapping dude!"

"Rapping...dude?" Shou scratches his head.

"Visions don't give names much so..." Ryou just shakes his head.

"How do you know it's Kumo though?" I ask. Shou shrugs.

"It just is." Ryou seems to accept this. He catches my questioning gaze.

"Shou's Eye is usually better than mine, so if he says it's Kumo, then it's Kumo." He explains. "I saw a yellow haired woman though, not a guy."

"Was she pretty?" Shou asks immediately.

"Well-"

"Anyways," I say, giving them both a sharp look. "Ren and I will be going to Konoha."

"Konoha, huh?" Ryou muses. "That's-"

"That's pretty cool!" Shou exclaims. "You should draw on those faces they have there!" We stare at him.

"Faces?" Ren asks. He nods.

"The Hokage faces! They carve them onto the wall."

"O...kay?" Shou seems to take this as agreement because he beams and proceeds demand pictures and give suggestions.

"Guys, we should probably go tell the others what we heard," I interrupt his little lecture. "And I want to know where everyone will go." They agree, albeit with a bit of grumbling on Shou's part for interrupting him.

Before we can even get two steps though, we are halted by a loud yell.

"DIIINNNEEEERRTIIIIIMMMEEEEE!" We trade glances before turning towards the camp center as one. Dinner meant everyone would be present. And everyone's presence meant _announcements._

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

Hiro-nee and Kimiko are going to Suna. Take-nii and Aki are going to Iwa. But none of that is my concern as I stare down at Ren the morning after the announcement.

"So you're telling me," I say. "That you knew Take-nii was going to be in that meeting, and that I would be in a coma because your visions don't center solely on the world around us like most of us, but on our clan." He squirms under my flat gaze but nods.

I am mildly surprised. I knew that everyone's Eye was different - some Eyes focused on specific people, others on certain places (there is one person whose Eye is fixated on the desert, which is boring most of the time, but insanely helpful whenever we are around for the ritual), some on the big picture of the world at large, and some on just mundane details, like household conversations - but I hadn't known that Ren's Eye focused on our clan.

"And you didn't tell me this because...?"

He mutters something unintelligible. I raise an eyebrow and he says it again, slightly louder, looking down.

"You thought that I would think it was freaky? Because no one else can See our clan?" He nods, his face red, still avoiding my eyes. _He is scared,_ I realize. _Scared that I won't like that._ I can't help it. I snort.

"Baka-Ren." I say, in slight fondness. "You really are a baka."

"You...you aren't- You don't think it's weird?" I snort again.

"Purple ponies are weird. Flying bananas are weird. Seeing our clan is not up to my standards of weird, Baka." He grins weakly and I roll my eyes.

Being the clan leader's only child put a lot of pressure on Ren's shoulders, especially because he can't live up to people's expectations - not with his average fuuinjutsu skills, abysmal prowess with a sword, and refusal to tell anyone of what his Eye Sees (until now). When we had first met, Ren had been a talkative little boy who couldn't even walk without his shoulders slumping ever so slightly and constantly wore a facade of smiling obliviousness. I hadn't liked that, and promptly told him to stand straight and drop the mask and bonked him over the head with my (extremely heavy) fuuinjutsu book whenever he did that near me. He had stopped soon enough. The pressure had lightened exponentially when Take-nii had taken up the mantle of the clan heir, but evidently, Ren still had some self-confidence issues.

"When you read as many strange things as I do, Ren, you stop thinking a lot of things are weird. Seeing our clan isn't that strange; with all the places and people our Eyes focus on, someone was bound to get an Eye that focused on our clan sooner or later." I wait for a moment for that to sink in before plopping down on the sand beside him so I am not towering over him anymore.

"Now then," I say. "What exactly did your Eye see?" And I listen closely as he recounts his visions, his tense shoulders slowly relaxing as it becomes clear I am not planning to denounce him for his Eye not focusing on anything or anywhere more important.

"...And Ryou's mom had a little boy after only nine months instead of ten months, so they were pretty worried, but he turned out to be okay, a bit small, but-

"Wait." I interrupt, an idea blooming in my head. "How far did you See?"

"Um, a year or so I think." I stiffen and my next words trip over themselves uncharacteristically as they come out.

"Do- did you see if I-" Luckily, Ren knows me well.

"If you got that little brother you were hoping for?" I huff, refusing to acknowledge that I had been _hoping_ for anything, but he grins anyway. "Yeah, you did." I pause, wondering if I should ask. I normally wouldn't - it would make it seem like I cared, and I generally liked to pretend I didn't; I had had numerous visions, even before my first ritual, of people who had lost someone; enough for me to be wary of ever acting like I cared - but this was my little brother.

"What was he like?" I blurt out before I can really censor myself. I flush. Ren smiles knowingly, but doesn't comment.

"They named him Ryuuki, after your dad, and plus it sounds kinda like your name. He was a pretty cute baby, but all babies are cute, so that doesn't really mean much. He had silvery white hair like you and your mom instead of just normal white hair like most of the rest of us in the clan, but his eyes were a really light blue, almost like he was blind - the complete opposite of your eyes..."

And as I listen to Ren describe the child in his visions, I think wistfully, just for a moment, that, powerful though it is, I would trade my Eye for his in a heartbeat if I could See this brother I will never meet like he can.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

"We can't use birds! Letters can be intercepted and it'll be too suspicious if they're caught sending letters to someone outside of their village! And meeting face to face is too risky, not to mention time-consuming!"

I lean against a caravan at the edge of the campfire, bored and fiddling with the fuuinjutsu scroll I am holding, as I watch the debate that is turning more into an argument with each passing second. I couldn't care less how we were going to communicate. While it is a valid concern for most of the infiltrators/soon-to-be saviors/people leaving, and I can see the necessity of having information, it doesn't change the fact that most, if not all, of the...venturers...know what they need to do and will know if they do something wrong, so we have no need of a control center or anything.

As for the emotional comfort a means of communication will bring...well, it would be nice to hear from my parents. And Take-nii and Ryou and Shou and Hiro-nee. Maybe even Aki. Not that I was going to say any of that aloud.

I know, however, that I would be more worried - though I would never be as _vocal_ about it - if I hadn't had Ren - who will be able to tell me everything going on in our clan - coming with me. So I stay quiet.

"How 'bout scrying?" I blink and begin listening. Now _that_ was something new.

"Does that even work?" Someone asks.

"Isn't that just something fake fortune tellers do in stories?" Take-nii, the person who suggested it, shrugs and rubs his neck sheepishly.

"I dunno, I was remembering one of our old stories, of the person with the first Eye, how she could project her Eye into a bowl of water or something." They all fall silent.

"If...that can work, that would be perfect."

There is a heartbeat of stillness before people rush off, presumably to get bowls and water. I myself am skeptical - stories are stories after all. But it is a mark of how desperate we are, that we are resorted to grasping feeble methods from myths that probably aren't even true.

People come back, sure enough, holding bowls and water, or in some cases, oil. I watch with clinical interest as they bend over them to...well, I'm not quite sure. Personally, I think that if we could see things in water or oil, we would have known already. I glance over to my right, and see Ren staring avidly into a bowl of water, his brow scrunched up in concentration. I stifle a snicker. It is always interesting to watch people make a fool of themselves.

There is an abrupt cracking noise, and everyone looks up as Take-nii's bowl shatters, and water cascades over his pants.

"Ah, I figured we should try adding chakra or something," He grins sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. People look amused - only Take-nii can crack a bowl like he does; all bowls we use have strengthening seals inked on them.

I sit up at that thought.

_Seals._

Of course.

I shake my head as I look around for Ryou. How is it that a clan that specializes in fuuinjutsu doesn't think of seals at all when faced with a problem? We are taught from _birth_ that fuuinjutsu can overcome any problem.

I finally spy Ryou sharing a bowl with Shou. From the looks on their faces, they are also trying Take-nii's method of inserting chakra in the water. I make my way towards them.

"Ryou," Both Ryou and Shou look up. "Transportation seals." They look puzzled for a moment before Ryou's eyes light up in understanding and he leaps to his feet, bowl clattering to the ground. Everyone looks over.

"Yuki, you really are a genius!" He says gleefully. And he rushes off, leaving me to deal with the questioning stares of the rest of the clan.

I explain in my typical concise manner: "Transportation seals to send packages and letters."

I rather enjoy the gobsmacked looks. Really, how did no one think of this? Isolated though we were, we still took care not to inbreed...

I shake that thought out of my head. It is too disturbing to think about.

Either way, now that a solution has been found, and Ryou is evidently working on it, people decide to tackle another issue - our cover story. I groan internally. Many of our clan are as adept at making up (believable) stories as they are at taijutsu - which is to say, not at all. (To be fair though, taijutsu is hard to learn from scrolls, and the battles we Saw were generally too fast for us to observe specific stances and such.)

I leave. Ren would tell me what our story was anyway, and if I didn't like it, I would just make a new one. Reading all those books - many about shinobi infiltrating this or that place - can come in handy sometimes. I can think of a couple somewhat-believable lies off the top of my head.

Ryou does not look up as I enter.

"Need help?" I offer. He nods absently, tapping his pencil on his chin.

"There are too many variables and methods. Should I make a replicate appear at point B? That's hard though, especially over large distances, and stupid, and too chakra-consuming. Only Take-nii would be able to pull that off. I prefer teleporting. But how do I move the object from point A to point B without it flying through the air and giving people a chance to intercept it? Instantaneously to boot. And how to specify where we want to send it?" I smirk, digging in my pocket for my 'Library' scroll.. I had already thought of most of those; how to actually put it together would be Ryou's task - he was good at that after all. I unseal one of the more advanced books I had for light reading and plop it down in front of him, interrupting his musing. He peers down at it.

"Space-ti- Oh!" He glances over at me appreciatively. "You really are a genius, Yuki."

"I just read more." I say, waving him off dismissively. I tap the book. "That should solve the how, and I figure we can try building different signatures into the seals we give the others, and we'll just write that signature onto whatever we want to send, and it'll show up at their seal when we activate it." He grins, a familiar spark in his eye.

"Got it. Thanks, Yuki!" I hum in acknowledgement, sitting down across from him to work on the signatures.

Now then, how to create a seal signature...?

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

A week later, we are all gathered again, at the edge of the camp. This time, however, it is to say goodbye. We had decided it would probably be better if we left separately. Kimiko and Hiro-nee are leaving first, for Sunagakure, as it is the closest village.

We knew that rumors would fly if a bunch of white haired people - our white hair is pretty distinctive after all - suddenly showed up in the villages all at once, so some had also opted to dye their hair with herbs and seals (disguised as birthmarks, tattooed onto their skin) that would keep the hair the same color as it grows. Our blue eyes are less distinctive though, because we have all shades of blue, from the dark blue of a starless night sky, like mine, to the pale blues of Hiro-nee and Kimiko, so none of us had bothered with contacts. Eye colors were harder to change (permanently) anyway.

Either way, Hiro-nee is now a brunette and Kimiko a fairer, bordering on blonde, version of her. With her hair pulled up in its typical, messy, no-nonsense bun, muscular body, tanned skin, and calloused hands, Hiro-nee looks like an nondescript farm girl, and Kimiko her sweet little sister. Which is their cover - their farm, located at the edge of Kawa no Kuni, burned down, taking their parents with them, and Sunagakure offered more opportunities than Tanigakure, so they hitched a ride with a passing merchant (they were armed with several mind altering seals to get the merchant to agree with their story when they caught up with him in the desert).

After this, we will travel to the Earth country and send Aki and Take-nii on their way. Aki's hair is now a darker, nearly brown, shade of his original pale blond - his father had been an outsider that married into our clan - but Take-nii has decided to keep his hair the same. They will not be posing as siblings, or even people that know each other, actually. Aki, unlike Kimiko, is rather independent and can take care of himself, and so will be an orphan that headed to Iwa when his family died in the influenza that is currently hitting the Rock country. He will blend right in with all the other orphans. Take-nii, on the other hand, will make a name for himself as a bounty hunter, and will not enter Iwagakure until almost a year later, when Iwa decides to recruit young, promising bounty hunters into their ranks. We had had to specifically adjust his transportation seals for his uncontrollable chakra output though, so he could still send us letters.

After that will be the Fire country. Ren has dyed his hair a golden yellow, though a bit darker than the boy in my vision, but I hadn't bothered. Mostly because I am extremely fond of my silvery white hair. Besides, the Fire country seemed to house many people with strange hair colors anyway (because, seriously, _pink?_). Our cover story is the simplest, and the bloodiest. We are first heading to a small, nondescript fishing village on the coast. Ren and I will be the only survivors of the massacre of that tiny fishing village when it is attacked by a particularly vicious bandit group in a few months' time, and will go to Konoha with the shinobi sent to investigate.

Ryou and Shou will be the last of the children to leave. Ryou is hoping that their departure will be delayed long enough for him to see the birth of his little brother. There is a chance that he will get his wish, because their cover story will require going in the winter, and it is summer at the moment. Their story is their family was immigrating from a small village in Shimo no Kuni to Kumogakure due to economic difficulties, like many will be doing, but were caught in that large, unexpected blizzard on the way. They will not be questioned on this, as both Kumogakure and Shimogakure will be receiving a large influx of orphans and starving people at the same time. Neither Ryou nor Shou have dyed their hair either, though not for the lack of want. Shou originally wanted to dye his hair a ludicrous, eye-watering shade of scarlet. Ryou eventually persuaded him not to - they were supposed to be twins (they are actually cousins, but they're similar enough to pull it off, even if Ryou has steel-blue eyes while Shou's are a lighter, blue-gray), and one twin having white hair while the other had red was plain ridiculous. Not to mention red would stand out in Kumo while white would not - easier to play pranks and all if you don't have a beacon on your head. I think the last bit is what made Shou back down, if reluctantly.

My mouth tilts down as this all begins to sink in. We are really going. Leaving. Never coming back. This will likely be the last time I ever see Hiro-nee again. And Kimiko, though that wasn't too big of a loss. But still-

A hand drops on my head, and I look up to see Hiro-nee smiling down at me.

"Don't make such a long face, Yuki-chan," She says cheerfully. "It's not like we'll never see each other again. The world's a pretty small place after all." My lips quirk wryly before I quickly wipe it off. Typical Hiro-nee, comforting others when she is the one leaving.

"I am not making a long face," I tell her, unable to quite get the tiny indignant note out of my voice. "And who'd miss Kimiko anyway?" But I don't knock her hand off my head. She grins and ruffles my hair.

"See ya then," She hoists her small pack, containing a few possessions we had deemed safe enough for her to keep. Most of us will not be able to bring many things with us, as we are trying not to stand out too much in the beginning. Seals are off limits. Ren and I will be able to keep more though, because it doesn't matter if we stand out in the fishing village.

"Bye," I say quietly.

And we all watch as the two of them walk away, Kimiko walking backwards and waving at Aki until they disappear behind the sand dunes.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

"You'll be careful, won't you?" Ami-baachan seems unable to to stop crying. Take-nii smiles down at her gently.

"Hai, Kaa-chan," He says patiently. Beside him, Aki's goodbyes are much less heartrending.

"I'll be seeing you then, Haha-ue, Chichi-ue" Aki says plainly.

Aki and his parents...weren't very close. From what I had got from Kimiko's rants, his mother had constantly been after him to improve fuuinjutsu skills, despite the fact that he was already considered one of the best in our generation. She had never seemed to get that her boy just wasn't a natural prodigy like Ryou. His father was about the same - pushing and pushing, constantly telling him to improve, to work harder, wanting him to be the clan heir. Kimiko had often fumed about their harsh words and lack of any positive support. I fairly certain that Aki is _glad_ to be going.

Aki turns to Take-nii. "I'll be going on ahead, Takeshi-nii."

"'Kay," Take-nii says, patting Ami-baachan on the back. And Aki walks away without ever looking back. The only people he would ever consider turning back and waving for had long since left in Kaze no Kuni.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

And, all too soon, it is our turn.

"Be careful, okay Yuki-chan?" My mother fusses. I patiently put up with it, knowing this will be the last time she can do this to me. She clutches me tightly, her eyes watery. "My little baby's leaving me," She sniffles. I gently pry her off and turn to my father. He engulfs me in a hug.

"Tell me if there are any boys going after you, alright?" He lectures, his eyes suspiciously bright. "I'll find some way to kick their asses." I roll my eyes, unable to stop my lips from quirking up in a tiny smile.

"Remember to send us the pictures, alright?" Shou reminds us, biting his lip in a futile attempt to stop the almost comical cascade of tears flowing down his cheeks.

"Good luck, Yuki," Ryou murmurs, hugging me. I fleetingly think that, if it weren't for the situation, I would never allow all these hugs.

Finally, we are ready to leave, everything we want to bring sealed away. I feel a pang as we walk away, and glance over at Ren. He is surprisingly composed, and I turn and catch one last glimpse of my waving parents standing beside a stoic Arashi and motionless Marii before we vanish into the forest that borders the fishing village. Ren never looks back.

* * *

**Reference:**

The Elders (Eldest to Youngest)  
Osamu  
Daichi  
Manabu  
Leiko  
Junko  
Yasuo  
Chie

The Children (Youngest to Eldest)

Name: Miyuki 実雪 (True Snow) aka "Yuki"  
Age: 7  
Looks: long, loose, waist-length, silvery white hair with bangs; deep blue eyes, like a starless night sky; pale skin  
Parents: Tatsuo (竜夫: "Dragon Man") and Setsuna (雪凪: "Calm Snow")

Name: Kimiko 后子 (Empress Child) aka "Miko"  
Age: 8  
Looks: short, neck length, white hair with bangs (think Shiemi's hairstyle from Ao no Exorcist); pale blue eyes; pale-pinkish, somewhat freckled skin  
Parents: Takumi (匠: "Artisan") and Chouko (蝶子: "Butterfly Child")  
Notes: Used to have long hair, comparable to Miyuki's, but had it cut as punishment for nearly being spotted by a shinobi; younger sister of Hiroko; takes after her mother

Name: Akihiro 明彦 (Bright Prince) aka "Aki"  
Age: 9  
Looks: neat, short, platinum blonde hair; clear, azure eyes; milky skin  
Parents: Akifumi (明史: "bright history") and Asami (麻美: "morning beauty")

Name: Ren 蓮 (Lotus)  
Age: 11  
Looks: short-medium length, albino hair (think Kise's hairstyle from Kuroko no Basuke); clear, sea blue eyes that lighten when he laughs or is happy, and darkens into stormy blue when he's angry; fair skin  
Parents: Arashi (嵐: "Storm") and Marii (真理: "Truth")  
Notes: Only child of clan leader

Name: Ryousuke 良介 (Good Forerunner/Herald) aka "Ryou"  
Age: 14  
Looks: messy (but not completely untameable like Shou) white hair; steel-blue eyes; fair skin  
Parents: Yoshirou (義郎: "righteous son") and Ume (梅: "plum")  
Notes: Cousin of Shouta through father

Name: Shouta 翔太 (Fly/Soar, Thick/Big) aka "Shou"  
Age: 14  
Looks: flyaway, untameable, white hair; playful, blue gray eyes; fair skin  
Parents: (Both Deceased)  
Notes: Cousin of Ryousuke through father

Name: Hiroko 寛子 (Tolerant/Generous Child) aka "Hiro-nee"  
Age: 15  
Looks: just below average height; shoulder-length, grayish white hair usually in a no nonsense bun; somewhat tanned skin, pale blue eyes like Kimiko; rather muscular for a girl  
Parents: Takumi (匠: "artisan") and Chouko (蝶子: " butterfly child")  
Notes: Kimiko's older sister; takes after her father

Name: Takeshi 武 (Warrior/Unbending Like A Bamboo Tree) aka "Take-nii"  
Age: 17  
Looks: short, cropped white hair; light, electric blue eyes; somewhat tanned skin; moderately tall, lean and muscled structure  
Parents: (Father: Deceased) and Ami (亜美: "second, Asia; beautiful")  
Notes: Clan heir

* * *

**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto or anything in it.

* * *

**General Warnings:** AU, (most likely) GEN, language, violence, OC-centric

* * *

**Summary:** I saw men tortured, women raped, innocent children gutted like pigs. I watched my friends fall to the whims of a madman, my clansmen vanish off the face of the earth, my world crack and crumble before my eyes. I felt the earth groan and tremble beneath my feet, chakra itself scream and protest at the twisted malevolence that blanketed the world, and yet I could do nothing.

I see the future, but I swear I will change it.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** And the rating has been bumped up to M for violence...

* * *

**Chapter 4**

I lean against a tree, keeping an eye on Ren over my book as he laughs and plays with the village children.

We had been in Manchō Village - it was what they called their village apparently, because of the strong tides that beat against their shore at all except certain times of the day - for almost a month already.

We had been accepted quicker and more easily than I had expected - small villages like this one were generally very tight-knit and loath to accept strangers. But instead, it had only taken around a week for us to be accepted; Ren as "that cheerful and ever-so-helpful little boy", and me as his "quiet little sister." (I had no idea how they had gotten the idea that I was his sister though - we were planning to just be childhood friends when we got to Konoha.)

"Hey, Miyuki-chan, play with us!" I glance over and see Naoki, one of the village children, looking up at me with the biggest pair of puppy eyes I had ever seen. "Please? More people is more fun!" I glare for a moment, cursing my utter lack of immunity to puppy eyes, before putting down my book with a sigh. He beams. I grumble inwardly. I blamed Ren for this - he had been the one that told them to ignore my glares, that I was always like that, but that I was a "real softie" underneath. Which was completely untrue, and I would prove it if it weren't for the fact that the last time I had tried, all of the children had adopted such wounded looks, like kicked puppies, that I couldn't help but feel like an ass and agree. Of course, I had regretted it when they had done a complete one-eighty and dragged me off on a wild goose chase for a lost hairclip disguised as a "treasure hunt."

"What are we playing this time?" I sigh, resigned to my fate.

"Hide-and-seek!" He chirps, tugging me over to the circle. Ren grins at me and I scowl at him as I seal away my book so it won't be damaged. That was another thing we hadn't bothered hiding - our fuuinjutsu skills. The villagers had all been fascinated, but had left it alone when we had said (truthfully) that it was something our parents had taught us - they were under the impression that our family had abandoned us and so, was a touchy subject.

"Alright," I say exasperatedly. "Let's get this over with." Naoki tosses the handmade dice - the person with the lowest number would be it. As there are three die, the lowest number would be three and the highest eighteen.

Seven. Naoki pouts, passing the die to Atsuko. She tosses.

Twelve. One by one, we all take turns tossing.

Eight.

Fifteen.

Five.

Thirteen.

My turn. I stare down at my number. A three.

"Run!" Atsuko squeals, and all of them take off. Sighing, I close my eyes and begin the countdown.

"...Three...two...one." I open my eyes and look around. Not a kid in sight. Sighing again, I trot towards the nearest tree, peering behind and doing a quick scan. Nope. I pause as I feel an uneasy prickle in the back of my head.

One of the biggest benefits of having an All-Seeing Eye like mine, is, while it will never be able to focus on one single place, person, thing, or clan (meaning I will always have to guess where and when my current vision is taking place), and will be much harder to control when I begin trying to tame it, it is a magnificent danger-sensor. Most All-Seeing Eyes enjoyed honing in on danger and misfortune, and (usually after the first ritual) had their power manifest in the conscious mind as...well, really good gut instincts.

And now the alarms were blaring. Which meant...

Well, there is only one danger that can make my instincts go off like this in this sleepy little village.

Isn't that bandit group expected to come at around this time?

My eyes harden, as I go to the next bush and peer around, keeping up the pretense.

From the glimpses my Eye had caught, the bandits had attacked when the sky was dark, and all the lights had been put out.

Tonight then. My pace quickens, and I cheat a bit, inhaling and exhaling slowly, focusing on one of the lesser shinobi arts our clan practiced - chakra sensing. I quickly 'find' the kids and send them off and make my way to Ren's hiding place.

"Ren!" I hiss after making sure we are alone. He spins around.

"Ah, you fou-" His smile falters as he catches sight of my face. Words are unnecessary. He pales. "Tonight?" I nod.

"Do...do you think-"

"No." I cut him off.

"But-"

"No, Ren. We can't save any of them."

"But they're-" I glare at him.

"I warned you not to get too attached Ren." I say coldly, ignoring the wrenching ache in my own stomach even as I think of leaving Naoki - who is only _five_ (almost six, as he enjoys reminding us proudly), who should have _decades_ more to look forward to, who shouldn't have to have his life cut short because a group of sick bastards wanted to stoke their egos by massacring a village that had nothing worth robbing in the first place - and all the others to die. "We can't-" I stop talking abruptly as I sense someone coming within hearing distance. I wipe my face to its usual blank mask, and Ren plasters on his long-perfected smile as Naoki stumbles in.

"Miyuki-chan!" He pouts. "You took so long that everyone gave up and went home!"

"Ah, gomen," I say flatly. "Ren was really hard to find."

'Nao-kun! Time for lunch!" The faint voice of Naoki's mother drifts to our spot. Naoki grins.

"Ren's gonna be the It tomorrow cuz he was the last one to be found!" He tosses over his shoulder as he scampers off. "Don't forget!"

"Okay!" Ren calls, keeping his voice light. We watch him disappear into the brush and Ren's face crumples. I swallow the sudden lump in my throat.

We both know there won't be a tomorrow for them.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

"Ren!" I scream, ignoring the gagging smoke that clogs my lungs with every inhale. "REN!" I curse, coughing. That _idiot_.

Ren had run back as soon as we heard the first crashes and screams. I had made to follow, but he had longer legs, and I had been forced to backtrack and take a roundabout way to avoid running into some of the bandits. And now I stand in the midst of the burning village, unsure of where Ren is, or if he is even alive.

_Calm down,_ I tell myself. _You will not be able to do anything without a clear head._ I inhale, ignoring the searing heat, and exhale. Right. Think.

There is no way no way I can devise a seal to locate him quickly enough, even if I had the time to unseal a pen and marker from the tiny seal disguised as a birthmark on the inside of my forearm.

Chakra sensing is out. As familiar as I am with Ren's chakra signature, picking it out from amongst the crowd of bandits and villagers is too hard, if not impossible - my chakra sensing skills aren't all that good. (During hide-and-seek, I had only had to focus on my immediate surroundings, and there hadn't been anyone around the clearing I was in but the kids anyway.)

Then, that leaves my Eye.

Forcibly calming myself down, I pray to Tsukuyomi-sama for this to work before slipping into a semi-haze of meditation and open my Eye a fraction.

Images immediately bombard me.

Green vested shinobi flashing through the trees, smoke rising lazily in the morning sky overhead.

Smoldering ruins, the wind gently scattering the ashes.

Body after body pulled out of the wreckage...

Focus, I tell myself. I am looking for Ren. I had listened in on Ren's Eye taming sessions many times before our departure; I knew what to do. Theoretically. I can hear Yasuo-sama in my head, telling me (or rather, Ren) what to do.

_"Seeing the present - or, more accurately, a few seconds or minutes in the future - does not expend as much chakra as the future. So, to start, withdraw your chakra to the tiniest trickle. Yes, just like that. Now, remember to maintain that trickle at just that amount, or you will lose control again."_

I concentrate, ignoring the jumble of images flashing by my eyes, and slowly, they get more recent.

Bandits leaving, a child's body half out of the door, people slaughtered, blood, screaming, a bloody knife, Ren and Naoki running through the flames, a shadow behind them, Ren sprinting through Naoki's burning house, Naoki cowering under the bed, the bandits just missing him...

I draw myself out of the confusing tangle of images and break out of the haze, falling to my knees, gasping harshly.

My Eye was harder to control than I thought. But I got what I wanted.

I stagger to my feet and take one step, only for my leg to give out under me. I grit my teeth as my vision swims in and out of focus.

Shit.

It seemed that forcing my Eye like I had took a great toll. Controlling the Eye required more chakra than simply Seeing. That was why children began with Seeing the present: it used the least amount of chakra, and had the least amount of risk. This was because without long and rigorous training, it was hard to control the flow of chakra used to actually control the Eye. So, until the user learned how to regulate the amount of chakra used to control the Eye, the Eye simply drained large amounts of chakra from the body, resulting in chakra depletion (and the extreme fatigue, loss of energy, and throbbing muscles that came with chakra depletion).

Now I knew why our clan waited until after the second ritual - and a lot of chakra control classes - to begin training to control it. The fact that I am getting oxygen deprived likely isn't helping.

I lay there for a few minutes, gasping and seeing if it will pass, before concluding it won't and pushing myself back to my knees. I manage to crawl a few steps before I sway dangerously, but I force myself to take another step, and then another. I needed to get to Ren.

Ren.

_Ren_. Thinking about him brings one particular image drifting hazily to the forefront of my mind.

Running through the flames. A shadow looming above him.

_Shit_. I lurch to my feet, a surge of adrenaline pushing away the fog clouding my mind, as a heavy, foreboding feeling settles in the bottom of my stomach. I stumble as fast as I can towards the place I know he will be.

"Let go of him!"

My eyes widen and and I move faster. That is Ren's voice.

I arrive on scene just in time to watch a bandit hold the bloody knife of my vision to Naoki's throat. Naoki's face is pale and terrified and Ren is red with fury and helplessness, his arms restrained by a second bandit while a third snickers cruelly. Dark liquid trickles from his numerous lacerations, some deeper and evidently made by a knife. I watch, almost in a trance, as a droplet of his blood splashes to the ground.

A surge of fury hits me hard enough to make me choke, and reddish tinge highlights everything. All I can think is that Ren is bleeding, Ren is _hurt, and it's all their fault_.

I know they haven't seen me yet. I know the only thing keeping Ren from truly fighting is the knife at Naoki's throat. I know there is no way Ren would be held like that otherwise - the grip the bandit has on him is inexperienced and easy to break if you know how, and both of us have long since mastered the basics of fighting.

I grab a nearby stone - once a door stopper for one of the storekeepers - and fling it at the bandit holding Naoki, forcibly dredging up a bit of chakra into my arms to boost my strength. It hits dead on and I hear a satisfying crunch and yell of pain even as I hurl forward, knowing the element of surprise is all I have on my side. I briefly take note of Ren taking the chance to elbow his surprised bandit in the face, and Naoki scrambling out of the way of his temporarily stunned bandit out of the corner of my eye, before tackling the third bandit to the ground through sheer momentum. He hits the ground with a strangled gasp as I crush all the air out of his lungs with my weight. I jab him in the throat hard enough to crush his windpipe, and viciously sock him in the jaw for good measure. I don't bother wasting time checking if he will get up again - he won't be going anywhere with that throat, even if he_ is_ still conscious after the punch - spinning and flying past Naoki to deal with the no-longer-stunned bandit, who, clutching his broken nose, has gone for his dropped knife.

I tackle the bandit just as he grasps his knife, and knock us both to the ground. The knife rips a long gash down my arm as I slam his hand to the ground, but I don't feel it, mercilessly crushing his fragile wrist bones under my elbow with a sickening snapping sound. The bandit howls in pain and takes a wild swing at me with his other arm, knocking me away. I pull myself back to my feet, facing the bandit again. He cradles his wrist in his hand, glaring at me. I glare back, refusing to show my dizziness - he had hit me in the head - even as I wipe away the dark liquid trickling from my forehead so it doesn't obstruct my vision.

Behind me, Ren has managed to knock out his bandit with a well aimed kick to the shin and clip over the head when the bandit stumbled. He steps up beside me, and the remaining bandit hesitates, cradling his wrist, glancing at his two downed comrades. He evidently doesn't want to risk it - not when we have already proven ourselves capable of taking down his friends. He turns tail and flees. I wait a moment to make sure he has really gone before stating brusquely:

"Come on. We've got to move." Ren hesitates, glancing at a trembling Naoki before looking at me as I move past him.

"What about-"

"Do whatever you want." I say harshly, moving ahead to find a safe path. I know I am in no condition to argue - the only thing keeping me on my feet is the adrenaline still running through my veins - and even if I was, we had no time. The fire was spreading, we were fast running out of oxygen, and soon there would be no safe path left.

As if to reflect my thoughts, the burning house beside us crackles and crumbles, timbers and flames flying. Ren wastes no more time, dragging Naoki to his feet and hurrying after me. We make it to the edge of the village, a few meters away from the border of the treeline, before I stagger.

"Yuki!" Ren rushes to support me.

"I'm fine," I say harshly. "It's just the smoke getting to me." I know this is a pathetic lie - they had inhaled more smoke than I had after all - and Ren looks unconvinced, but he doesn't say anything more. I look up at the sky. It is almost dawn - the shinobi would be here soon. I stiffen as my danger senses blare again and look up just in time to watch an entire group of bandits emerge from the forest.

"There they are! Those brats!" An unpleasantly familiar bandit sniffles, still cradling his wrist, his nose an satisfyingly bloody, purplish bruise.

Shit.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" A bandit, the obvious leader, hollers menacingly. "I said I wanted no survivors didn't I? Can't have someone able to identify us!" The bandits all yell in agreement, leering menacingly at us. My eyes scan the group. There are around fifteen of them - too many for us to fight.

"Run," I murmur to Ren, taking a step back. We turn heel and flee - right back into the burning village. Behind us, the leader hoots in amusement and yells orders.

"Half of you, go after them, flush them out! You, go get the idiots counting the loot. There's hardly any loot anyway, they should be done by now. The rest of you surround the village and holler if you see them!" My stomach drops as I hear this. There will be nowhere to run now. Staying in Manchō Village will be hard, if not impossible. But running to the ocean would be suicide, because the tide is too strong for us to even try swimming.

I glance up at the sky again, the dark grey smoke standing out starkly against the pinkening sky. About two hours until shinobi come to investigate.

I press my lips together tightly. We can survive two hours. I will make sure of it.

**~ : {TDOM} : ~**

I rest my forehead against the ground as I gasp for breath, trying to stop my vision from spinning. Ren kneels beside me, looking helpless. Naoki stands behind us uncertainly, eyes darting back and forth, watching for bandits.

"The seals I drew won't last much longer," I rasp out. I had used my blood to draw a crude avoidance seal - nowhere near as elegant or intricate as the ones I had used when we were spying on the elders - on each of our arms. It had worked for the most part, though we had been forced to move around to prevent them from accidentally spotting us when a house collapsed and could no longer hide us - avoidance seals wouldn't work on someone who knew where you were after all, and invisibility seals were too hard and time consuming to attempt. But the blood had quickly begun drying and flaking due to the dry heat of the flames and our constant movements, and now they were all but gone.

"It's all right," Ren reassures me worriedly. "Don't push yourself. You don't have enough chakra left-" We are cut off by Naoki's terrified gasp and know we have been found. Ren grabs Naoki and I drag myself to my feet as we take off without looking back, even as the bandit gives a yell of triumph.

We come to an abrupt halt as we end up, ironically, back where we started: the edge of the village, near the treeline, with bandits - _a_ bandit - blocking the way.

"Well well, what do we have here?" The bandit leader grins, looking just as menacing without his gang behind him as with them. I glance behind us and see two more bandits prowl towards us, cutting off our path back to the village. The leader gives a loud, shrill whistle and I know we don't have much time before the rest of the bandits come.

I feel the wind shift behind us and spin around as the two bandits rush towards us. Naoki hurriedly scoots back as I dash forward to meet the first bandit, and Ren steps around me and rushes forward to face the other bandit, trusting me to take care of this one.

Even with the sporadic bursts of blurring in my vision, I am perfectly capable of taking on a single wannabe-bandit who is obviously underestimating me anyway. I duck as the bandit takes the first swing with his club, and run past him, hooking his foot as I go, making him stumble. I follow this up with a kick to the back of his knees, forcing them to bend and collapse under him. My fist, reinforced with the little chakra I have left, swings out to smash against the side of his head and he hits the ground hard, banging his head, knocking him out like a light. I immediately rush forward to Ren's aid.

Ren, having taken out his bandit with a fist to the gut and chakra enforced chop to the head, has taken on the leader. But he is having trouble getting around his sword. I notice the small figures of more bandits approaching out of the corner of my eye and know we are almost out of time.

I rush in from the side, only to dance away just as quickly when the sword slices a deadly path towards me. Another burst of dizzy blurriness hits me, but I grit my teeth and squint, refusing to give in. I observe the man.

He is not an expert, I can tell. He does not wield the sword with with the deadly precision of Take-nii, and he has no real stance, let alone a style. He is, like all the others, just a common thug, albeit a bit more clever. It doesn't change the fact that he can still swing around that heavy sword like it is nothing, and Ren is wounded, while it is taking everything I have not to collapse. Without a very obvious opening, it will be hard for us to defeat him. For the first time, I am at loss for what to do.

A rock, hardly larger than my palm, thuds the bandit's back, and he turns, half annoyed and half angry, to see Naoki, terrified, but defiant, and still holding a rock in his other hand. It only takes the bandit one long stride to reach Naoki, but I am already moving forward as fast as I can, not wasting this chance.

"Naoki!" I hear Ren scream, and the bandit swings just as I lash out with my foot in a roundhouse kick, catching him in the thigh, just missing his knee where I had been aiming. I curse woozily in my head. The kick hardly hurts him, as I am nearly completely spent of chakra, and my eyesight is spotting, and he turns back to face me. Ren moves in the split second of distraction. But he only manages to land one hit before the man's sword comes down and clubs him with the handle, and he is tossed away like a rag doll. He doesn't get up.

"REN!" I scream. I make to run - stagger - towards him, but the now grinning bandit leader steps between us.

"Now then missy, why don't we have a little bit of fun since your boyfriend is gone?"

I grit my teeth, willing myself not to collapse. I can just make out the trickle of blood making its way down the side of Ren's face between the spots in my eyes. I have never felt so helpless. The bandit leader, evidently annoyed at my lack of reply, keeps goading me.

"Such a stupid little girl, thinking you can stand up to us." He clucks. "You should have just sat down and died like that boy and your friend here, it would have been much easier." And he kicks Ren in the head.

My vision washes a furious, sickening crimson.

_Ren is fucking_ down_ already howdareyouhurthimagainyoucouldvefucking_killed_him-_

When it clears again, I blink hazily. The sickening stench of drying blood hangs heavy around me, and I am splattered, practically drenched, in a dark, sticky liquid that I am sure I will never quite get off my skin. Lying a few feet away is the eviscerated body of the bandit leader, his mutilated intestines spilling out of the remains of his stomach for the world to see. Scattered here and there, are the bodies of various bandits, some killed by a simple, clean, kunai to the head, and others in much...messier ways. I am bleeding from several new wounds that I am not quite sure how I got, and the taste of cloying rust permeating my dry, sticky mouth made me want to retch. Standing in front of me, a few wary feet away, is a red-eyed, green vested woman sporting a leaf forehead protector. Konoha nin.

"We're here to help," She says in a soothing voice. I spy two more shinobi pulling body after body out of the smoldering ruins of Manchō Village.

"Ren?" I croak. She furrows her brow for a moment.

"If you mean that yellow haired boy, then yes, he will be alright," She reassures me. "Our medical nin is taking care of him right now." I glance around and spy a kunoichi kneeling by Ren's prone body, her hand glowing with pale, green, healing chakra.

"That's good," I say. And I fall forward, my legs buckling beneath me, and allow myself to succumb to the alluring darkness at last.

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**Reference**

Manchō 満潮 = [High] tide

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**Notes:** I hope I didn't make them overpowered or anything. I estimate they are around genin-level, strength-wise, though Miyuki might be around chunin-level mentally/academically, what with all the books she reads. To be fair though, they _have_ been taught to fight, even if their clan does not have any particular taijutsu style or anything to their name. And the bandits were actually just making their debut as a group of bandits, because, let's face it, had they wiped out a village beforehand, Konoha would definitely have already taken notice and eliminated them. So the bandit group was actually more of a group of thugs. Easy enough for two trained children. If Team Seven could defeat a highly-skilled missing nin and his apprentice (Zabuza & Haku) as genin, why wouldn't Miyuki and Ren be able to take out a couple of untrained thugs who can't even project killing intent?

Still. Please tell me any suggestions, criticisms, or other constructive comments you have. I don't have a beta, so I only have my own opinion to go on, and it would be nice to have another point of view on this story.

I hope you liked my fight scenes; I've never written any before.

Next time: Naruto!

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**Please review!**


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